Pats know that Ravens will play until final whistle

Sunday night’s game at M&T Bank Stadium will be the sixth time in six years the Patriots and Ravens have gone head-to-head in what has become one of the AFC’s best rivalries.

PAUL KENYON

BALTIMORE — Tom Brady was in the middle of his weekly meeting with reporters the other day when he pointed out what seemed like an unusual aspect of his team’s rivalry with Baltimore.

Sunday night’s game at M&T Bank Stadium will be the sixth time in six years the Patriots and Ravens have gone head-to-head in what has become one of the AFC’s best rivalries.

The Pats have won each of the six regular-season meetings since the Ravens moved to Baltimore from Cleveland, and seven of eight overall (Baltimore’s only victory was in the playoffs three years ago at Gillette).

“This place is a little different,” Brady said of the Ravens home. “We’ve only really played there one time, which was a tough battle, a 60-minute game. It always comes down to the end with these guys. I’d don’t know if we’ve ever had an easy game against these guys. They make you earn every yard you get.”

For one of the rare times in recent seasons, New England enters as the underdog, by three points.

The last time the teams met, with the AFC title on the line in January, New England won 23-20 in overtime, only after Baltimore had failed to win in regulation when a 32-yard field goal attempt by Billy Cundiff sailed wide left, a play eerily similar to how the Patriots lost to Arizona this past Sunday.

The Ravens have won 11 straight games at home, 19 of their last 20. They are 28-5 in their last 33 games at home which just happens to be tied for first in the league in that period — with New England’s record at Gillette Stadium. Going back to 2002, the Ravens are 63-21 at home, the second best record in the league behind only the Pats’ 67-14 at Gillette.

Baltimore is the only team in the league to have won at least one playoff game in each of the last four seasons. Still, as much as they have done, the Ravens have been overshadowed by New England. Now, for the first time since 2007, Baltimore gets to have the home-field advantage.

The last four Patriots victories in the series have been by 3 in last season’s AFC title game, 3 in overtime in 2010, 6 in 2009 and three in 2009. The contests featuring New England’s high powered offense against Baltimore’s terrific defense, all have had final scorers in the 20s.

“(There have) been a lot of close, hard fought games going back to ’07, (to the) last possession,” pointed out Pats coach Bill Belichick. “Really all those games have come down to the last possession except the playoff game in 2010. All those other games were basically the last play really, not even in the last possession, I’d say pretty much the last play; very competitive games. We’ve had the last four of them here, so we haven’t been down there in awhile, so that will make this a little different from the last few. That all evens out in the long run.”

The teams know each other well.

“The Ravens have different players, and they have their own unique scheme, like everybody else does,” Belichick said. “They’re a very good technique team. They play well with their hands. They recognize blocks well, linebackers are, well it’s hard to fool them, especially [Ray] Lewis, but all of them are disciplined. They don’t give up a lot of easy plays. You have to block them. They don’t run themselves out of a lot of plays. They make you block them, and you have to do a good job. You have to have good pad level, good technique. You have to finish your blocks; they’re a good tackling team. They’re not easy to run the ball against.”

The Pats have survived similar tests. New England is 64-33 on the road since the start of the 2000 season, a .660 winning percentage, the best in the league.

Baltimore coach John Harbaugh thinks the Pats are much the same this season.

“As far as their style and everything, it’s the same team. They’re tremendously great,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the thing now; I think they’ve improved even over last year’s team, even as a good as they were last year, a Super Bowl team. They were AFC Champions. They’ve done a great job with the draft, bolstering the team. They brought a few guys in and improved. They’ve done it again.”

The match between the quarterbacks is much like the match between the teams. The Pats Brady is the one who has won all the honors. The Ravens Joe Flacco is still struggling for recognition, even though he is the first quarterback since 1970 to lead his team to at least one playoff victory in each of his first four seasons.

Flacco is especially good at home. The Ravens are 19-1 at home since Flacco took over. His quarterback rating at M&T is 99.1, compared with 86.2 overall. Brady respects Flacco after Flacco put up better numbers in last season’s AFC title contest.

“He played a great game in the AFC championship. He makes great reads. You see they really have allowed him to do a lot more things at the line of scrimmage, especially with their up-tempo offense. He looks like he can make all the throws from the highlights that coach Belichick shows us,” Brady said. “He can put the ball on the money 60 yards down the field. He’s a dynamic player for them. They are scoring a lot of points, so we have to be prepared to try and match what they do.”

Brady knows he cannot throw two interceptions as he did in the meeting in January.

“I am hoping that I don’t turn the ball over like I did in that game. If we turn the ball over like we did the last game, we’re not going to come out of this game with a win, he said. “We have to be smart about what we do with the football and have to be really conscious of the playmakers on their defense, the guys that consistently show up and get the ball off the offense.

There is still one more aspect that makes the game pivotal. Both teams are coming off a loss and need a win to stay above .500. The Patriots have not been below .500 since 2002. The Ravens have responded well to losses. They have won 16 of their last 20 games following a loss, including the last 13 in a row.

Their 16-4 record is third best in the league. Atlanta is second at 18-3 since 2008. The top team in that regard? The Patriots at 14-2.

It is one of many numbers that make this one a fun match.

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